Amy Levin: Is this real? Or just some spoof from the West Wing or Law & Order? Could the US military really be using bullets covered with oil containing 13% pig fat to evoke fear in Islamic terrorists and allegedly send them into eternal damnation? For the moment, the answer seems like a skeptical maybe, but the supplier of Silver Bullet Gun Oil, pseudonymed “Midnite Rider,” or “Warrior of YAHWEH,” claims not only that his oil has been distributed to “members of all US military branches,” but that the oil was used on the bullet which killed none other than Osama bin Laden.

According to the mysterious purveyor’s logic, Silver Bullet Gun Oil (SGBO), when applied to the inside of a firearm, coats the bullet with pig fat as it is fired and transfers the sin-bearing solvent into the body of an “Islamo-Fascist Terrorist,” keeping the terrorist from paradise.  Charging underneath his banner, “One Shot, One Soul,” Midnite Rider claims on his website:

SILVER BULLET GUN OIL, is a HIGHLY EFFECTIVE Counter-Islamic terrorist force multiplier. SILVER BULLET GUN OIL was designed specifically to put Demoralizing FEAR and TERROR into SUPPOSEDLY “Fearless” Islamo-Fascist terrorists. It was created with the “TRUE BELIEVER” in mind. According to the Koran, Allah states, ‘Any of my followers contaminated by swine at the time of his death will be denied entry to my paradise forever, I HATE THE STENCH OF SWINE.’

But wait a minute, let’s take a tiny step back. For anyone who has never picked up a Qur’an, Allah does not say anything remotely along the lines of “I hate the stench of swine.” In fact, although pork is forbidden in Islam, the Qur’an states that the forced consumption of un-halal meat is not a sin (2.173), and therefore would not prevent a Muslim from reaching heaven. However, there seems to be something more than false advertising going on here. If you’re not convinced, check out the disturbing SBGO marketing video displaying phrases like, “you CANNOT win, and WILL be consigned to Allah’s hell for eternity if you die from a weapon using Silver Bullet Gun Oil!.” Frightening, indeed (on many levels).

Besides repugnance, what are the immanent implications of the gun oil – is it going to eventually hit, say, Wal-Mart’s shelves? So far, the product seems to lack legitimate testimonials of its use, unless we refer to the cryptic messages and pictures posted on the SGBO site by so-called military soldiers and officers. We know, however, that Mr. Rider has at least made one sale, since the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently purchased the oil to certify the company’s existence. Here’s what was delivered:

The gun oil arrived in a box postmarked from Courtland, Va., a town of about 1,300 people 50 miles southwest of Norfolk. Included with the gun oil were decals and playing cards – the ace of spades printed with the words “One Shot, One Soul” to put on the bodies of dead Muslims.

At the same SPLC Hatewatch blog, they cite a civilian spokesman who oversees the U.S. Army’s equipment, claiming that although he had never heard of the oil, a soldier could theoretically purchase it at his or her own discretion.

It seems to me that when it comes to meat-laden gun oil, Americans should be the terrified ones. Not only does the product’s ignorant logic once again prove that Americans largely don’t understand Islam or Muslims, but another form of anti-Muslim rhetoric only invites more outrage – the violence in response to Terry Jones’ burning of the Qur’an comes to mind here. Even General David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, gave Americans at home an order to stop promoting anti-Muslim propaganda and the burning of Qur’ans. Does he have to issue another warning for pork-infested oil? Besides, at $8.95 for a 4-oz plastic flip-top bottle of gun lube, who has the money in this economy?